Quote:
Throughout January, environmental groups and Democrats criticized the Trump administration for proceeding with plans for the sale despite the shutdown.
“One of the most striking features” of the shutdown, House Democrats wrote in a Jan. 16 letter to acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, “is the way the administration has bent over backward to ensure that the pain of the shutdown falls only on ordinary Americans and the environment, and not on the oil and gas industry.”
U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, said Thursday that the Trump administration failed to consult with Native Americans on the lease sale during the government shutdown.
“The administration is proposing to lease indigenous lands sacred to our people,” said Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo. “I have long opposed drilling in this area, as has the All Pueblo Council of Governors, who I met with today.”
Democrats said the administration gave the oil and gas industry special treatment during the shutdown by classifying certain Interior Department officials involved in lease sales as essential personnel.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/feds-plan-to-issue-oil-leases-near-chaco-canyon-in/article_05e01868-ebee-5cc4-b88c-cfd55b0c3330.html
What a surprise, a shutdown that was a smoke screen for Trump to make good on some more of the pay backs to those deep pockets he promise he didn't need/use ,,,,I am so tired of this farce called Trumps Administration .